Frozen Flare
by Riddle Road
Summary: Hermoine's take on her 5th year at Hogwarts. Magical hair dye, DADA teachers obsessed with sharp pointy objects, and other such oddities prove it will be interesting. Some slash. Hr/D
1. Ice Blue Eyes

Disclaimer: *shrugs* Not mine.   
AN: Basely, this is gonna be about our dear friend Hermione as she goes through her 5th year at Hogwarts. To note, she will have major issues, and she will be alternatingly depressed and sometimes even suicidal because I am the writer and I say so. By the way, the story and chapter titles are going to be song titles mostly, from japanese animes and other such things.   
Oh, and this says "By Lioness Blackfire"... that's me. Honestly. I hide my HP fics from my friends cuz they'd bash me upside the head for half of them. 'Specially Blue Raspberry and Triplets of Hogwarts.   
By the way, I know I'm really slow to update and I'm sorry. Blue Raspberry ch 3 is in the works, but I'm stuck in the middle of Shaman of Starr ch 2 and my lil brother is hogging the computer with Charms on it. Oh yea, and Triplets of Hogwarts... *shrugs* I have no clue why I'm not writing it. Prolly because it comes across as way too mary sueish. *shrugs again*   
Random AN I decided to add about halfway through the chappie on one hell of a whim: Watch out for SLASH! =P   
(Update 10/11/03) I just re-posted this with new and improved HTML (wahoo!) and I'm about halfway through writing chapter two. *dies* It's hard, give me a break! =P I'll try to get it up soon. Till then, enjoy the HTML. ^^;;   
  


~*~ Frozen Flare ~*~   
By Lioness Blackfire   
  
Chapter One: Ice Blue Eyes

  
  
_I don't really know how it started, diary. But it did start and that's all that really matters. Sometimes I wonder if it's even my fault. I didn't choose to be born a witch. I didn't choose to end up meeting the famous Harry Potter and by some weird twist of fate, become one of his best friends. I also didn't choose to run into a certain blonde Slytherin today at Flourish and Blotts.   
  
He was standing by the defense against the dark arts section, which surprised me, flipping through some book or other. His hair wasn't slicked back like he usually wears it, and it was falling in his face, softening what was usually too-sharp cheekbones.   
  
I hadn't realized I was staring until he sighed gustily and put the book back on the shelf, then looked up at me.   
...   
Well, not up, persay, considering he's taller than me, but up farther than he'd previously been looking.   
  
In any case, he looked at me and for some reason I just couldn't look away. I felt so small and stupid, me, little Hermione Granger, with my bushy brown hair and brown eyes, a bookworm and brain without much in the way of physical beauty... compared to him.   
  
And yes, I will admit that he really is one of the more attractive people I've had the fortune (or misfortune) to meet. Maybe a little on the pale side, but then again if he was at all dark-skinned he'd look like one of those muggle girls who bleach their hair and then go tanning._   
  
Hermione re-read the last sentence she had written and wrinkled her nose. Picturing Malfoy as a muggle girl was almost too close to absurd to be funny.   
  
_But yea. I was stuck there staring at him and he was staring back, then suddenly he snapped out of whatever reverie he'd been in and looked slightly unsettled before walking off to a different section of the store.   
  
I watched him walk off, and as soon as he was out of sight blinked a few times and came back to the real world as well. I'm really REALLY glad Ron and Harry weren't there. They'dve given me a weirder look than Malfoy did!_   
  
She signed her name at the end, adding a slight flourish on a whim. Then she switched off her bedside lamp and fell asleep, for the next day was sure to bring more surprises than ever.   
  
The next day was the beginning of her 5th year at Hogwarts.   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
Hermione woke the following day to a blaring alarm, warning her it was an hour before she would have to leave for the station. She was flabbergasted.   
  
"I can't believe I slept so late!" She exclaimed, throwing off her light summer bedcovers and rushing to the closet in her room. Crookshanks lifted one eyelid to peer at her antics, then easily went back to sleep. She managed to throw on the first muggle outfit that she found, and began stuffing the rest into her trunk, along with various books and other things that were required for Hogwarts.   
  
Then she bounded down the stairs of her house and into a room filled with a ton of computer equipment. She grabbed up a few small electronic devices and a silvery-blue CD case and dashed back to her room, throwing those in.   
  
(AN- I KNOW electronic stuff doesn't work at Hogwarts. She's planning on messing with these.)   
  
"Hermione! Do you want anything to eat before you leave?" Her mother called as she was brushing out her bushy brunette mane.   
  
"That would be great, thanks!" She called back, finally giving up with her hair and hurriedly manipulating it into a thick braid that hung down her back. Then she rushed (seems like all she's doing today) into the kitchen where her mother had the remains of what must have been a positively incredible breakfast arranged on a plate for her.   
  
She sat down at her place and suddenly slowed down considerably, careful to retain her table manners even with the hurry she was in. As she ate her mind drifted back to her journal entry of the night before.   
'He didn't speak to me at all...' she thought. 'No comments on my friends, my house, being muggle-born... And he was near the defense against the dark arts section! Malfoy, of all people!' A corner of her mouth raised in what could only be a smirk, though she wasn't aware of it's presence on her countenance. 'I guess it's true what they say... that to be well prepared, study your enemy.' She abruptly cut herself off of that train of thought. 'I will not study Malfoy, I will not study Malfoy...' she chanted inwardly, slightly disturbed that the thought had even occurred to her. "Evil trains of thought..." she muttered, and set down her fork. "Thanks, mum. I need to finish packing now." She commented in a much more cheerful voice and retreated to her room.   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
Because of her late start, Hermione was the last of the "infamous trio" to arrive on platform 9 3/4. She spotted Ron first with his bright red hair, however he was talking to his cousin Lina Daina, the Slytherin quidditch captain and keeper. Then, as she scanned the crowd for Harry, her eyes found someone very much not Harry. He was tall, pale, and made her think of bouncing ferrets. She stifled a laugh as he passed her by, heading for some group of Slytherins or other. Then her eyes rested comfortably on a shock of messy black hair and a thin lightning-shaped scar.   
  
"Harry!" She called and he looked up.   
  
"Hermione!" He called back, smiling. She rushed over and hugged him, planting a quick kiss on his cheek. "How are you?" He asked seriously, holding her by the shoulders at arm-length. They had been exchanging owls all summer, sometimes daily, and Hermione had confided in him quite a few things she'd never told anyone before, which included her current state of mind.   
  
"Alright. Better than I have been, at least. And you?"   
  
"I think I'll live." He answered with a grin, subtly motioning toward Ron with his head. Obviously, Harry had confided in Hermione as well. Originally, the letters had been sent to Ron as well, but Hermione began finding so many hidden and covered-up hints about something in particular that she began owling Harry alone about it. "I don't exactly have to tell him right away." Hermione smiled.   
  
"True, true." The whistle blew and they got onto the Hogwarts Express and headed off for another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ron joined them after just a few moments and instantly struck up a conversation.   
  
"So what kind of nutter do you think we'll have for a defense against the dark arts teacher this year?" Hermione grinned, crinkling her forehead while trying to think of the worst possible combination of traits in a DADA teacher.   
  
"It'll be... someone who graduated Hogwarts in Slytherin." She decided. The boys shuddered in mock terror.   
  
"And he'll be friends with Snape!" Harry added.   
  
"And of course you can't forget his obsession with sharp, pointy objects." Ron topped it off and the three friends lapsed into fits of laughter.   
  
"Well well well..." A snide, sure-of-itself voice rang from the door of the compartment. Ron looked up with a small fire already burning in his eyes and Harry pursed his lips in annoyance; but Hermione's heartbeat sped up and she shifted not just a little nervously in her seat. "If it isn't Potter, Weasel, and (he paused a beat) the Mudblood." He regarded her for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the boys. "Back for another year, I see. I'm surprised none of you were killed over break."   
  
"Well I'm surprised you didn't become a death eater in summer." Ron muttered darkly. Hermione thought Malfoy paled, if that was physically possible, gave Ron a look that could be interpreted as sad, and turned away.   
  
"See you in potions." He grumbled, and walked away, closing the compartment door behind him. Ron exchanged glances with his two friends.   
  
"Well that was..." he glanced around.   
  
"Different?" Harry supplied and Ron nodded.   
  
"You know, guys..." Hermione began and caught each of her friends' eyes to make sure they were paying attention. "Not that I really want to stand up for him or anything, but just because Malfoy's a stuck-up prat whose father is involved with You-Know-Who doesn't mean he is." Harry blinked in surprise and Ron stared at her, confounded. "He was in the defense against the dark arts section at Flourish and Blotts yesterday and..." she realized she was rambling and shrugged.   
  
The ride went on that way until near when it got dark, and Hermione decided she needed to visit the restroom car. On her way back, she saw Malfoy walking down the corridor; the slant of his shoulders making him seem just a bit less than happy. She didn't know what must have possessed her at that moment, but she quietly called,   
  
"Are you alright?" He turned around as she began nervously picking at her braid, hoping to all that's holy that he wasn't about to pull his wand and hex her. But instead he regarded her a long, silent moment with ice blue eyes and then softly replied,   
  
"Perhaps." before continuing on his way. 


	2. Lively Motion

Disclaimer: HP not mine. Neither is one bit of a Crystal rant, which I stole from something... don't remember what though. (love perfect recall *grin*)   
AN: Did you see the Blue Raspberry jokes last chappie? And this is the chapter where I introduce the "lovely" beginnings of Hermione's issues, so keep an open mind and be prepared for anything!   
And so maybe I'm being a little hard on her, and maybe you'll think, as Ron put it so nicely, that "someone can't be feeling all those things at once, she'd explode!", but believe me, a person can. And I'd know.   
Oh yea, and... bleah... this is not OoTP-complient. I will use things from it, but... like I said.   
Another thing you're going to notice is that I have no flipping clue how the prefect thing works. Is it a girl and a boy from each house in 5th, 6th, and 7th years plus a head girl and boy who are only allowed to be 7th years? (excuse me while my head explodes from the mere thought of constantly working with that many characters)   
So what I'm going to do is figure that there are two prefects from each house - one boy and one girl - that remain **the** prefects for that house until they graduate or become head boy/girl. When that happens, a 5th year is picked for the place. If that explanation threw you for a loop, e-mail me or something and I'll try to explain it better.   
And I'll try to use as many "real" characters as my lovely little brain can conjure up, I really will ^^;; And try not to shoot me if I get somebody's age wrong.   
  


Chapter Two: Lively Motion

  
  
Hermione walked into the great hall slightly behind Harry and Ron. The sky-roof was cloudy, and no stars shone. The first-years were sorted, none of them catching Hermione's attention except the new Gryffindor who looked remarkably like a calico cat.   
  
"Hi! I'm Crystal Earth! Who're you?" she rattled in a painfully soprano voice the literal moment the banquet began.   
  
"Hermione Granger."   
  
"You're one of the new prefects this year, right? Mama told me all about Hogwarts and prefects and OWLs and NEWTs and the professors and Dumbledore of course but I didn't want her explanation of the twelve uses of dragon's blood again, so I..." Hermione tuned her out for her own sanity, hoping the girl wouldn't take too much of a liking to her.   
  
"New friend?" Ron asked, snickering.   
  
"Goddess forbid." Hermione quietly groaned back. "At the very least I'd have to break her of the habit of talking in very long run-on sentences."   
  
"...but then she grabbed my pigtails and turned them green and they stayed that way for a week even with the bubblegum shampoo and I was so mad I woulda stomped on all the flowers and shoved them in my mouth and puked them all back up and then stomped on them all over again then painted her all sorts of pretty colors from the sticky goo but we didn't have any flowers so I couldn't do that so instead I..."   
  
Ron blinked more than once and looked at Crystal as if she were something very large and purple for a moment before turning back to Hermione. "Is she sane?" he asked.   
  
"I'm beginning to wonder that myself." she whispered back. From somewhat down the table a second-year yelled,   
  
"Crystal, lay off the cauldron cakes! They have waaaaay too much sugar for you."   
  
"Echo I'm fine can't you tell that there's no worries for Crystal because I haven't had that much sugar today not as much as usual at least maybe ten packets but that's it so don't worry and did you know your hair is half blue?" Glances were exchanged between everyone in hearing range.   
  
"So anyway, Hermione," Harry began. "are you ready for the first day of classes?" Hermione turned and grinned at him and Ron.   
  
"You bet! I can't... wait...?" Behind Harry and Ron the doors of the great hall had opened and a very farmiliar-looking redhead had stepped through. Hermione stared at him, trying to place a name with the face. At the head table, Dumbledore stood again.   
  
"And I see that our defense against the dark arts teacher has arrived! Please welcome Professor Bill Weasley!" Overall, an immense cheer and tumultuous applause greeted Ron's older brother. Ron's jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out.   
  
"Bill!?" He exclaimed almost loud enough to be heard over the noise of greeting. Hermione glanced over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was halfway between a scowl and complete surprise.   
  
"Hey all!" Bill greeted when he got up to the teachers' platform.   
  
"Ron, is that your brother?" Lavender asked dreamily from down the table.   
  
"Um, yea." He replied, still sounding shocked.   
  
"Looks like we won't have a nutter for a defense against the dark arts prof this year." Harry commented, surprise in his voice.   
  
"Are you kidding?? He MUST be a nutter if he took that job!" Ron replied, casting another incredulous look in Bill's direction.   
  
"Oh, come on Ron, it can't be THAT bad to have him working here." Hermione replied gently.   
  
"But Hermione, you know as well as anybody else that the position is cursed! I mean look at what's happened to the last four teachers!" He held up a hand and started counting them off on his fingers. "One dead, one without his memory, one shunned because he's a werewolf, and one locked up in his own trunk all year!"   
  
"Except, Ron, that all those teachers except Lockhart ended up that way because they were either in league with You-Know-Who or he had a grudge against him. And Lockhart was stupid enough to use your broken wand." Hermione stated cooly. Ron looked at her, then over at Harry who looked sheepish and nodded, and sighed.   
  
"Okay, okay, so maybe Bill isn't going to be so bad off. But if he's being carried home in a matchbox at the end of the year, remember that I told you so!" Harry chuckled and, after a moment's hesitation, patted Ron's shoulder warmly.   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
Hermione lay sprawled out on her bed in the Gryffindor 5th-year girls' room, staring at the canopy. 'Harry was busy...' she was thinking. 'That is, seeing Ron for the first time since last year. He was occupied with his own thoughts. And Ron... he was too busy talking to Harry about Quidditch and summer and Bill to notice.' she turned over and groaned into her pillow. 'Tomorrow they won't be so tied up though. Breakfast I can get away with, but lunch and dinner...'   
  
"Hermione?" came a voice from outside of the curtains. She pushed herself up on her elbows so her face wasn't in the pillow.   
  
"Yeah?" she called back.   
  
"Oh good, you're awake. Come out for a sec?" Hermione pulled a cord and the bedcurtains opened. Parvati sat on her own bed, holding a CD player and earphones. "Can you make this work?"   
  
"Well, I can try." she held out her hands. "Here, let's see what we can do."   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
Hermione was mumbling something at her porridge the next morning when Harry arrived at the breakfast table.   
  
"Maybe it would run off an extract of phoenix feathers..." Harry caught when he got close enough.   
  
"What could run off phoenix feathers?" he asked, startling her out of her thoughts.   
  
"Oh, Harry, it's just you." she caught her breath and tried to slow her racing heart. "Parvati's CD player. We were trying to make it work in a place like this even though it's mechanical and we got everything except the power source. And that was an extract of phoenix feathers, not just the feathers themselves."   
  
Harry raised an eyebrow and propped his chin on his hand. "And where, persay, are you planning to get extract of phoenix feathers from?"   
  
Hermione smiled. "Well, it's not hard to make if you've got the feathers themselves. I was thinking of asking Dumbledore for some from the next time Fawkes molts. I think he'd approve of the cause."   
  
Harry looked thoughtful. "Yes... he probably would, wouldn't he?" he finally commented. "For someone as old as he... at least seems to be... he's very open to new ideas." He glanced at Hermione's full bowl of porridge. "Not hungry?" he asked.   
  
"No..." she said and refused to meet Harry's eyes. "I got out of the habit of breakfast over summer. Not really hungry at this hour of the morning." Harry shrugged.   
  
"Alright. I never really have been either in the mornings, now that you mention it."   
  
Inwardly, Hermione wondered if Harry had guessed already. He _did_ know her better than anyone else, especially after the letters they had exchanged over the summer.   
  
"Hey guys!" called a familiar voice suddenly, breaking the slight tension. Ron sat down across from Harry and flashed a brilliant smile at the two. Hermione glanced at Harry, who suddenly seemed much more amiable.   
  
"Hey Ron." he replied after a short moment, watching the redhead dish up porridge for himself. Ron started to look back up at him, and Harry quickly looked back over at Hermione. "So how _would_ you get a CD player to run on extract of phoenix feathers?"   
  
Hermione looked up from her cereal at the boys and noted that Ron was looking at Harry with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. She guessed he had caught the back end of Harry's ungraceful attempt to look nonchalant. "By hooking some up to the CD player in a battery-like fashion. See, I think that it's just the muggle power sources that don't work around Hogwarts - like batteries. So if we hook up a magic-based power source it should work fine." She took a breath and studied their expressions to see if they had understood. Ron seemed to have caught most of it, and Harry got it all. "Get it?" she asked anyway.   
  
"What's a CD sayer?" asked Ron. Harry jumped into explaining, something which made Hermione smile fondly at them.   
  
It took most of the mealtime for Harry to explain CD players to Ron, and near the end Hermione found Alicia Spinnet and Lee Jordan standing behind her. Lee was the male Gryffindor prefect, and Alicia head girl.   
  
"Hey guys." Hermione said, twisting around in her seat.   
  
"Hi Hermione. I was going to give you this last night, but you weren't in the common room long enough." Alicia handed over what looked to be a normal piece of parchment, with   
  


Meeting of all Prefects and Heads - Headmaster's Office - After the last bell on the first classday

  
  
printed at the top in loopy handwriting. Hermione looked up at her questioningly. "It's like the ultimate billboard. All the Prefects and the Heads have one, as well as Dumbledore and the House Heads. Every time somebody writes on one, it shows up on all the others until the time included in the entry has passed."   
  
"Very cool." Hermione commented, earning a smile from Alicia and a grin from Lee. "And thanks. I'll be sure to check it often."   
  
"Wise words." Lee said. "Seeya, Hermione."   
  
"Bye!"   
  
"Lee being a prefect seems very odd to me." Ron commented offhandedly, and Hermione turned back around. "But I guess when it was a choice between him and Fred and George..." he smiled. "It figures Percy would have had to become Head Boy the year they were the only replacements."   
  
"He seems to be responsible enough though." Hermione replied. "He just likes having fun too." Ron scrunched his eyebrows and looked at her oddly.   
  
"Y'know, Mione, last year you would have called their jokes 'disruptive' and 'childish'." he grinned. "What'd you do? Pull a good one on someone over summer break?" Hermione just shook her head and smiled.   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
The first day of classes at Hogwarts included nothing particularly exciting for the Gryffindor fifth-years. Transfiguration was just as it had always been, History of Magic couldn't have been more boring if Professor Binns tried, and Herbology and Charms were nice but not exactly invigorating either. The most interesting part of the schoolday, in fact, was probably finding out that Potions with the Slytherins was first the next day, followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts.   
  
"You coming to the common room, Hermione?" Harry asked as she began going the opposite way when they left the Charms room.   
  
"In a bit. There's a prefects meeting first."   
  
"Okay. Seeya then!"   
  
"Seeya!"   
  
The stairway to Dumbledore's office was already revealed, and when she got to the top, she found that most of the others were already there - including Draco Malfoy.   
  
'Damn.' she thought. 'I forgot he's the new one for Slytherin.' Luckily, he was already busy talking to who she presumed to be the other Slytherin prefect - a short-statured girl with long light pink hair and pale blue eyes. Quietly, Hermione made her way over to a couch along one wall and sat next to Lee.   
  
"It's a bigger group than you'd think, eh, Hermione?" he asked when she looked the group over again with slightly widened eyes.   
  
"Yeah. I'm surprised, there's three people I've never even seen before."   
  
"I can tell you who they are, point 'em out to me." The first one was a boy with light brown hair and green eyes, who sat talking to Cho Chang on a couch across from theirs. "That's Gozol Tennousei. New Ravenclaw prefect, he's a 5th year like you. He seems alright so far. Friendly fellow, that is." Next was a very tall boy with his ginger-red hair in a long pigtail down his back, and his eyes were bright blue. She found herself reminded of Bill Weasley. "Kado Sorasol. Hufflepuff 6th year. Kind of keeps to himself, but he's cool." The last one she pointed to was the pink-haired girl talking to Malfoy. "Ah, Cosimia Dagaz. Slytherin, 6th year. She's sort of a recluse too, doesn't talk unless spoken to and usually the only ones who will do that are the heads, teachers and other Slytherin. But I don't think I've ever heard of her giving anybody a hard time, unlike her friend there."   
  
Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. "Malfoy? No kidding. I hope he doesn't rub off on her."   
  
"But, as you said, we can only hope." They looked at each other and laughed, stopping when Dumbledore walked in, flanked by the four house heads. Everybody stood up and faced them curiously.   
  
"I suppose you're all wondering why I called you here tonight..." he paused and chuckled. "I've always wanted to say that. Seriously, though, I suppose you are." some of the olders nodded. "Well, I have been working on something with Professors McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick for the past few years. A sort of 'prefect perk'." he chuckled again at his own phrasing. "Living quarters!"   
  
"Living quarters?" some of the students echoed.   
  
"But of course! Come, it is easier to show than explain when at all possible." He led them to a tower Hermione had never been in before. In fact, she wasn't sure she had even known it existed. Later she would realize the prefects' tower was located above the part of the school Hagrid led the first-years to every year. Just then, though, she was busy trying to remember how to get there.   
  
At the top of a long staircase shaped like a tight rectangular spiral, they stopped. On the wall facing the inner part of the tower hung a beautiful, elaborate painting of four people at what looked like the head table in the great hall. They were discussing something amiably.   
  
"This" Dumbledore began, "is where you can get into your tower. Right now, the password is 'Fire Opal'. It is, however, subject to change for security reasons. If it does, there will be a notice on the prefect papers." he turned to the painting and cleared his throat. "Fire Opal." he stated clearly, and the painting swung inward as if on a hinge. As soon as they were inside, all the students, including Slytherins, abandoned themselves to staring about themselves in awe. The room they were in was absolutely gorgeous. The floor was covered with a plush amber-colored carpet, the walls were mostly plain stone but studded with bricks of red, green, yellow, and blue.   
  
The right-hand wall seemed to be mostly two massive windows, the glass as clear as the air around it. The left-hand wall housed four tapestries, one for each Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin in the appropriate colors. Straight ahead when one entered the room were three large royal purple couches around a low square table with a massive fireplace on the last side. Two round tables with plenty of cushioned chairs were behind that, one near the tapestries and the other close to the windows.   
  
From the fireplace, the walls slanted back and two huge spiral staircases stood, one on each side. The staircases themselves were incredible - stone with rich-looking wooden rails and crimson carpet up the middle. Then Hermione looked up. Her eyes grew huge as she looked up into at least five stories' worth of space, the walls punctuated with huge windows like the ones down where she was. A balcony ran around three sides of the room a story and a half up - it was what the spiral staircases led to. Two huge windows were on both the left and right sides on the balcony level, and staircases near but behind the fireplace's chimney were just visible, as well as eight other doors with different house symbols on each of them.   
  
"Go on now, explore." Dumbledore encouraged. "The room isn't going to bite, or at least it hasn't yet. This is your shared common room - the Prefects' Common." he smiled. "Go on, all of you! I'll explain the rest in a bit."   
  
Gozol was the first one to move, stepping out in front of the group then turning back and shrugging at them. Then his eye was obviously caught by something behind them. "Woah." would be the exact quote.   
  
Hermione, curious, turned as well, and found herself facing her own personal heaven. Row upon row of books neatly arranged towered a story and a quarter high and spanned the entire wall minus right around the portrait entrance.   
  
"Now _that_ is a lot of books." a mildly familiar male voice stated. Hermione guessed it was Roger Davies - Head Boy - who said it.   
  
"Everything available in the library, and then some." McGonagall stated with a touch of pride in her voice. Hermione guessed that she had been the one to gather such a collection.   
  
After looking at the wall of books for a bit longer, the rest of the students began dispersing throughout the room. Hermione went to look out the window, and found herself faced with a magnificent view of the lake, Hogwarts grounds, and even some of the forbidden forest. Having been struck by the breathtaking picture laid out before her, she turned back to the inside of the room and found herself looking right at Malfoy. He was walking slowly up to the purple couches and once there, he ran a hand along the back of one. His expression remained stone but for his eyes, which Harmione was puzzled to find soften and smile in their own right.   
  
"Alright, so what do you think?" Dumbledore called. He was replied with a chorus of 'Very cool's and 'incredible's. "Thank you. Now, a few things to point out and then I shall be off. First - and this is why the heads of house are here - notice the house tapestries on the left wall, if you have not yet. Behind them and a bit of stone are passageways to each of the house common rooms. Through them you may visit your house or bring some friends up here. However, you are the only ones who may know the passwords. Do not tell them to your friends. Your house head will tell you the password to your house's tapestry. Go to them, now."   
  
Hermione, along with Alicia and Lee walked up to McGonagall, who quietly but clearly stated that the Gryffindor tapestry password was "Dragonsblood Balm".   
  
"Everybody have their passwords? Good. Second, you will notice that up on the balcony there are two doors with each house's symbol on them as well as two staircases. Standing facing the fireplace, the boys' rooms are on the right and the girls' on the left. The staircases lead to the head boy's and girl's rooms. You will find instructions for your rooms just inside their doors. Now, I think that's it..." he received confirmatory nods from the other teachers, and he nodded as well. "All right then! Enjoy yourselves and this lovely set of rooms, and have a good evening." and with that, he stepped out of the portrait hole and was gone. The four teachers quickly followed suit, and the students just sort of stood there looking around.   
  
After a bit, they headed for their rooms. Hermione's found the door to hers at the portrait-wall end of the room, and opened it. 


	3. Love is Changing

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine, not while hanging on a vine and not if I am drinking wine. Harry Potter is not mine.   
Neither, I realize, are some furniture ideas (you'll understand later) which I stole from the videogame Animal Crossing.   
AN: HAHA! I don't usually even do mild cliffies like that! Whee! Okay, so that was fun ^^;; I'll admit, the reason I stopped there is because I couldn't decide how the rooms would work *sweatdrops* but now I've come to a semi-descisive state, so here goes!   
Augh, did I mention that near to ANY spells I make up are going to be Japanese in origin? That's because I know next to no Latin, but I've been studying Japanese for... *counts* a long time. *sweatdrops*   
  


Chapter Three: Love is Changing

  
  
Just as Dumbledore had said, on the stone floor in front of her lay a piece of paper. Picking it up, she looked around. She seemed to be at the foot of a spiral staircase. Becoming curious, she looked at the paper.   
  


Your room is, as you will soon discover, a bit bare. It is also located fourteen stories above where you, presumably, are now. 

  
  
Hermione glanced up and thanked whatever deities that were listening for self-levitation charms.   
  


When you arrive in your room, there should be a few things already there:   
  
Your personal belongings will be near the wall to your left,   
  
And directly in front of you will be a rather large muggle-style catalog.   
  
That magazine contains the key to furnishing your room. Various furnishing items in many styles appear in the catalog (some rather unconventional), along with incantations to make the room materialize each.   
  
Have fun, it's free!

  
  
Hermione folded up the piece of paper and stepped into the stairwell, closing the door behind her. The stairs seemed to go on forever, a window appearing every second rotation of the spiral. At the top, she emerged into a large circular room with windows all around and what looked like glass sliding doors on the west side, leading out onto a balcony.   
  
"Great Goddess..." she whispered, glancing out each window. "I'm gonna need help with this."   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
"You mean you get to design your own room?" Ron asked as he, Harry, and Hermione dashed along the passage between Gryffindor Tower and the Prefects' Common.   
  
"Yes, and judging from what I saw just flipping through the magazine, the possibilities are endless!"   
  
"Now _there's_ something to think about: what would an endless book look like?" Harry asked. Ron cast a quick glance at him.   
  
"Well... really big?" he supplied in a halfway questioning tone. Harry grinned at the taller boy, which Hermione noticed made said redhead smile somewhat nervously. Inside her own mind, she grinned as well. It looked like Harry's romantic life was going to go rather well this year.   
  
Once at the Prefects' common, Harry and Ron had to stop and stare.   
  
"Bloody hell, Hermione, all this for ten people?" Ron said incredulously.   
  
"And all the prefects to come, but I suppose that, yes, this is all for ten people a year."   
  
Harry shook his head and smiled at her. "Wow."   
  
"Come on, if we want to get done before dinner then we need to start soon." Hermione prompted, eager to see what they could do to her room. The boys each nodded and they started toward her room. As they passed the couches, Hermione saw Draco on one, the magazine open on his lamp and a list on the couch next to him.   
  
'Has he been here the whole time? And he didn't comment when Harry and Ron came in? What's going on?' She continued watching him as she walked on the balcony level, and resigned herself simply to her own thoughts until they reached her room. Harry and Ron were already bent over the catalog when she got there, and she laughed a bit at their excited antics.   
  
"Look, it's perfect!" Ron exclaimed, pointing to something. Harry snickered, something rather un-Harry-like, and Hermione became slightly concerned.   
  
"Hikitsukeru chikara no Juutan!" Ron said as she stood and pointed his wand at the bare stone floor. A carpet materialized, pink with a male model winking at the ceiling, and he wasn't wearing anything save a loincloth.   
  
Hermione turned cherry red, and burst into laughter. "Oh... oh god, (giggling) get that thing off before somebody comes up..." she lapsed into another fit of tear-inducing laughter, and after wiping her eyes she realized that the boys were laughing just as hard. "Oh my..." she took a deep breath. "I can't believe that was even _in_ there! Oh... whoosh..."   
  
"Whoosh?" Harry questioned.   
  
"Like a deep exhalation." she stated and he rolled his eyes.   
  
"Ah."   
  
A few hours, hundreds of impossible to pronounce incantations, and thousands of laughs later, Hermione's room was in a presentable state. The carpet was a funny little fuzzy thing - mostly black with yellow and orange jack-o'-lanterns, blue wrapped sweets, and white "ghosts". The walls and ceiling remained stone, but the windows all had curtains that, amusingly, matched the rug. The bed they had chosen was an absolutely gorgeous king-sized canopy with midnight blue and silver curtains that they had spelled against flammability due to the tiki torches they had flanking the head of the bed.   
  
A bit away from that, along one of the walls, sat a bureau, wardrobe, and vanity, with a folding screen so noone could catch her changing. =) Each of those were made of a rich-looking deep red-brown wood with black accents.   
  
The middle of the room housed a bit of furniture that Ron insisted on surprising her with: a table and chair set fashioned to look like fruit. The chairs looked like an orange and some unspecified "melon" with a chunk cut out of them to sit on, while the table was like half of a watermelon.   
  
On the other side of the room from the folding screen bit was a small fountain made to look like a typical garden pond (complete with lily pads) with a potted snake plant on one side. In fact, all around the room one could find plants. A reddish-brown table next to Hermione's school trunk at the foot of her bed displayed her own personal maple bonsai, and there was an aloe plant near the sliding doors and some potted herbs in the windowsills and on top of the reddish-brown bookcase.   
  
One might say it looked like a lush garden. Maybe a strange lush garden, but a lush garden nonetheless.   
  


~ * ~ *~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
"That turned out rather nicely, if I may say so." Hermione stated while picking at her mashed potatoes at dinner.   
  
"I still can't believe they put _that_ rug in there, though." Harry said, grinning. Hermione and Ron rolled eyes simultaneously.   
  
"Agreed." Hermione said.   
  
"I think you should have kept the neon pink bedcovers though, Mione." Ron pointed out mock-seriously. "They would have gone so well with that first folding screen we tried." The three of them exchanged glances, and burst into laughter for the hundredth time that day.   
  
Alicia, who was walking up to them, looked momentarily startled and then chuckled. "Having fun with your room?" she asked. Hermione turned around to look at her.   
  
"Definitely."   
  
"Try looking on the twentieth carpets page." Ron suggested, snickering even as he spoke.   
  
Alicia raised an eyebrow. "I'll do that. Hermione, have you seen Lee about?"   
  
"No, sorry. Try Fred or George. They might know."   
  
"I'll do that, too. Thanks!" she started walking away.   
  
"No problem, Alicia!" She turned back to the table to see Ron had gone back to his dinner and Harry was looking at her with a 'just-what-do-you-think-you're-doing' stare. "Um...?" she asked lamely.   
  
"I thought you'd be hungrier after all that excitement." he stated just enigmatically enough that Ron wouldn't catch on right away.   
  
"Oh... you know... I was just rambling about how cool my room is... I'll get to it."   
  
"You really should." Harry replied, and though his voice didn't fluctuate a pitch, Hermione flinched.   
  
"Sorry." she muttered, hunching a bit over her full plate. The feeling of having a large, warm hand placed on her shoulder made her look up and meet Harry's green eyes, which were full of friendly warmth and concern.   
  
"Just because it's not summer anymore doesn't mean I'm not still there for you. Heck, you can even send notes with Hedwig if it makes you feel better."   
  
Almost involuntarily, she flung her arms about his neck and buried her face in the front of his robes. From across the table, Hermione could hear a slight choking sound as Ron looked up followed by something odd that she interpreted as _extremely_ jealous.   
  
"Is she okay?" Ron mouthed to Harry, who made a bit of a face and seemed to shrug.   
  
Carefully, the black-haired boy held the petite brunette who was shaking very hard and more than just a bit too thin. Glancing at her dinner, he realized she'd barely touched it - simply pushed it around a bit. After a little while, she stopped shaking and he ventured speaking to her.   
  
"Hermione? Are you going to be okay?"   
  
Realizing she had been in Harry's arms for the past five minutes, Hermione pulled away, rubbing at damp eyes. "I think so. I guess I'm just a little tired." If she had looked up, she would have found that even Ron didn't buy that excuse.   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
By the end of dinner Harry and Ron had coaxed, tricked, and bribed her into eating all of her mashed potatoes, half of her peas, and a little chicken. Ron worriedly watched Harry as he paced in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room.   
  
"Harry, you're going to wear the carpet thin." he stated after about twenty minutes. Harry looked at him, sighed heavily, and flopped down on the couch next to him. Ron found himself glad that he was already somewhat red from sitting so near the fire on an already warm night.   
  
"I know, pacing won't help anything. It's just... I'm worried about her, Ron. She confided a lot of things in me over summer break... things you wouldn't even connect with the character of 'Hermione'. And I'm..." he covered his face in his hands and took a deep breath. "I'm scared she's going to hurt herself."   
  
Tentatively, remembering how Harry had held Hermione at the dinner table, he placed an arm about his best friend's shoulders. Harry (Ron wondered if it was unconsciously) leaned into the light embrace and wrapped one of his own arms around the taller boy's slim waist.   
  
"Don't worry, we'll find a way through this." Ron found himself saying reassuringly. And if he didn't catch the 'we', Harry did, and smiled contentedly at the fire.   
  
Across the room, a different redheaded boy caught sight of the pair and motioned to his twin to look as well. They looked at them fondly, caught each others' eyes, and each smiled warmly.   
  


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  
  
Draco Malfoy sat on the left-hand couch in the prefects' common, the large catalog open on his crossed legs sitting forgotten as he stared into the fire. The center couch held Hermione, who lay on her front facing Malfoy with schoolbooks all around. After a while, she sat up with her knees folded under her and stretched. The room was empty except for herself and the pensive Slytherin.   
  
For a moment she studied him. He had rested his head on one fist, and the other lay limply on the magazine in his lap. The firelight was reflected in his eyes, and illuminated his pale skin and hair. Then, deciding he wasn't going to bother her, she put her schoolbooks aside and took out a new roll of parchment and her favorite wine red ink.   
  
_Harry,   
Sorry I lost it at dinner like that. I guess that with school starting and the new rooms and everything that's been going on...   
I think I just need to get back into the school routine and then I'll be fine.   
  
Did you tell Ron about... you know...? He seemed to be contributing quite a bit to your antics to get me to eat. (yick, that was a bad sentence. Maybe I _have_ been away from school for too long)   
  
Anyways, don't worry about me. A good night's sleep and I'll be back to my old self! Oh, and thanks for not flipping on me when I fell apart earlier, I think I forgot to thank you at the time.   
  
So, I think that's it.   
~Hermione_   
  
After re-reading the note a few times, she folded it up and placed it on top of her books. Glancing at Malfoy, she realized he hadn't moved at all since twenty minutes earlier, and then she wondered why she cared. Mentally shrugging it off, she picked up her books and went up to her room to change.   
  
Malfoy realized that the person on the couch to his right had left, so when there was movement in that direction, he was slightly startled and looked over. He was greeted with the sight of Hermione, her hair loose around her shoulders, wearing only a light green and light blue striped camisole and light blue drawstring sweatpants. She was curled up on the large deep purple couch with an oversized book in her hands, making her seem rather small.   
  
Then she blinked and and focus on her book visibly broke, and she looked up at him. He looked away and back at the catalog.   
  
"Do you need some help with that?" Hermione asked quietly. Malfoy looked back up, feeling ridiculous for having been startled by her twice in ten minutes.   
  
"I... ah..." he averted his gaze, wondering why she offered to help him. She was a girl, and a Gryffindor, and someone he had been perfectly awful to in years past. She walked past the direction his eyes were pointed, and sat down next to him on the couch.   
  
"Don't worry, I got Harry and Ron to help me with my room, and I'm not exactly going to tell anyone that Mr. High-and-Mighty Slytherin was having trouble deciding what to do with his room."   
  
"Why do you want to help me?" he asked, and Hermione was surprised at how guarded his words sounded.   
  
'What is he afraid of?' she wondered. 'His reputation, maybe? Is he afraid I'm going to go blabbing that he associated with a muggle-born?' "You looked sad." she chose her words carefully. "And I know that crazy magazine is overwhelming even if you're prepared for it." she took a breath and looked up at his face. "It didn't look to me like anyone else was going to help you, so... offering can't hurt."   
  
"Well, if you're really going to help, maybe you should sit on my other side. You'll get jabbed at some point if you sit over there." When she looked slightly confused, he picked up a pencil and twirled it in his fingers.   
  
"You're left-handed?" she asked.   
  
"Yea..."   
  
"Don't worry about it. I was going to sit facing you anyway. So what are you trying to choose?"   
  
"Well, a carpet, but none seem to match what else I've got."   
  
"What else have you got?"   
  
"Most of the ebony set back here..." He turned to near the back of the catalog.   
  
"Hmm... Well, maybe you should try putting in a little bit of..." she flipped back a few pages. "...this stuff here, the indigo set, and then some kind of night sky carpet would probably match."   
  
"Mmm... maybe, but..." Talking about something as inconsequential as furniture that could be changed with the flick of a wand, both Hermione and Malfoy slowly relaxed. The night ended when, after slowly flipping through page after page of furniture, Malfoy discovered that Hermione had fallen asleep.   
  
Feeling slightly awkward, he used a charm to lay her down on the couch (as opposed to draped on the back of it) and transfigured a small pillow into a blanket that turned out to be red and silver.   
  
Halfway across the room, he turned back and looked at her. "See you in potions." he whispered, then shook his head quickly and went off to his room, where he promptly added a starry night carpet.   
  
  
  
AN: So this chapter was shorter than the last one... only by a page or so. At least I got it out in absolutely record time! Wai! Next chapter should feature at least Potions and DADA with Bill. (hehehehehe) Now, the review button is calling out to you. =P 


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